Antarctic Ali

Rothera Summer is...

2009-01-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

being able to get aerial views

spending Christmas at Sky Blu...

...with luxury accommodation

ice skating in the sunshine on a blue-ice runway

drinking Christmas whisky with 1000(s) year old blue ice

getting up close with killer whales

boating and diving in an Antarctic context

sunbathing seals

the appearance of snow algae around the point

icebergs

flocks of gullsmelting snow

Summer is also about not finding time to update your blog! Apologies and Happy New Year!

2009 will be a strange year, after spending an amazing 2 years living and working at Rothera it will be time to leave my home in less than 10 weeks. This is a very sad yet very happy occasion - all in all emotionally confusing! Leaving will no doubt be an awful experience, one which will be eased by the thought of meeting up with friends and family and the adventure of re-discovering the colours, smells, sights and sounds of the real world (I'm sure there are many best left un-discovered!).

2008-08-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Rob, Dan & I set off for a second round of crevasse exploration. We came across a promising-looking slump in the snow and managed to open up a small hole in the snow bridge through which to enter.

A ramp of snow (a 'false floor' probably created by a previously collapsed snow bridge) gave us an easy entry into the main crevasse. It was considerably wider than the previous slot we'd discovered and continued opening up towards the top where it was heavily bridged by snow. Large lumps of old snow bridge littered the false floor on which we were standing. In winter it can be expected that the snow bridges are 'fairly stable' as temperatures are low and there is little sunlight to cause melting. There's always that chance that they might 'go' but then you might get run over by a skidoo tomorrow....

Dan went ahead fixing the rope to the solid walls of the crevasse as he went. We're always clipped into the rope just incase the floor decides to disappear beneath us! Rob descending into the crevasse

The point where we had entered was fairly cavernous, leading off this was a small chamber where Dan headed off to check what was around the corner. Rob and I stood patiently listening to the sounds of "****", "wow", "ermmm", lots of hammering with ice axes and nervous laughter. Finally we were allowed to follow. There was a large fin of ice coming up into the centre of the narrowed crevasse, Dan had knocked the top off enabling us to move along it in a very dignified shuffling manner. In the words of Greg & Al (the infamous [at Rothera anyway] NZ yoga instructors whose video yoga-routine we regularly follow) "the guys may need to re-adjust the placement of their tackle for this move"...There were some amazing ice formations including large ice-crystals (about an inch long) that resembled feathers (and sadly were difficult to get a photo of) and in one corner a mass of icy threads which looked like spider webs.
It is an unusal feeling entering these stunning underground ice caves, into which possibly no one has ever been (there hasn't been much recorded about people visiting crevasses in this area). You feel extremely priviliged yet extremely vulnerable (despite all the protection you put in place). They are extraordinarily beautiful places where calm and cold conditions allow for the creation of unbelievable ice formations, often sculpted by the flow of air through its passages. There is a sense of time standing still, as whatever the weather is doing up top, underground it is calm, with dim blue light shining through where the snow bridge is at its thinnest. It is deathly quiet and you are filled with a great sense of awe for the place. I have only been down three crevasses and each has been entirely different, I'm looking forward to seeing what suprises the next one holds....

Nuts

2008-08-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today has, in some ways, been rather frustrating. It's been nearly a month since I've been able to get out to do a CTD - the CTD is an instrument which measures Conductivity (from which you can work out the salinity (saltiness) of the water), Temperature and Depth. It also hosts a PAR sensor (which measures Photosynthetically Active Radiation i.e. the part of the sunlight that the phytoplankton use) and a fluorometer (which measures the amount of phytoplankton in the water). The CTD is attached to a winch mounted on a RIB (small boat) and taken to a site in Ryder Bay where it is winched (by hand) to 500m and back twice a week in the summer and once a week in the winter. This gathers important oceanographic data which contributes to a data set spanning 10 years for Ryder Bay, this is one of the largest data sets for Antarctic waters and one of very few spanning summer and winter months.

Since early July some promising-looking sea ice had been forming in Ryder Bay, sadly high temperatures (up to 2oC) and high winds have caused the sea ice to break out and we're back to open water. After being unable to boat because of the ice (which was too thin to take skidoos on in order to do a CTD) this week has been too windy to go out boating. It started to calm down yesterday afternoon but no sooner had we got out to the CTD site (about 3km from base) the wind increased and changed direction causing us to head for home and making recovery of the boats rather interesting. This morning the weather looked promising once again but the pesky wind picked up just as we were donning our boat suits. It did drop off this afternoon, only to give way to snow showers which reduced visibility too much for us to go out. Still... sitting around waiting to see what the weather did involved drinking lots of tea so it wasn't such a bad thing.

Deploying the CTD on a dingle day in summer

Elsewhere on base.....

Adam and Matty have been setting up the new overhang on the climbing wall in Fuchs House. Graham (chippy) has done a marvellous job on the structure and we're all looking forward to trying it out. The only problem is there is a shortage of large holds so it could end up being rather challenging.

Currently there are a number of people on base training for the Rothera Triathlon, basically we're going to put ourselves through a few hours of utter tedium sitting in the gym for a 5km row, 30km bike then 10km run. For some there is the challenge of getting their best time or being the fastest. For me it's more a case of if I don't die I will be delighted :)

Antarctitc 48-hour Film Festival

2008-08-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend stations all over Antarctica took part in the first ever continent-wide 48 hour film making competition. This has been run at McMurdo Station and Scott Base for the last two years, but this year they invited other Antarctic stations that have a winter crew were to join in. To ensure the films were filmed and edited over one weekend a number of randomly drawn elements to be inlcuded in the films were picked and e-mailed on Friday evening. These included a cardboard box, an 'FNG' (american base slang for a 'new guy'), the line "what do you mean you want a day of for Midwinter?" and a bodily noise that wasn't speech.

Our film was very much a base-wide effort and it was brilliant to see everyone working together so well. Here are a few photos from the weekend but to get the full story have a look at the end result here.... http://www.greenmug.co.uk/rothera/

Jim (AKA the FNG)

Adam playing a convincing dame

Matty the Producer & Editor checking the set

James, Ferg & Bravo getting that perfect camera angle

Some disturbing extra footage can be seen by following these links....

Adam gets to grips with his new physique - http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-803527076892475825

Doc Jason takes time to admire Matty's handywork with the prop making- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6272265635261234555

Sea Ice Excursions

2008-07-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

After a disappointing sea ice year last year, when 'travel' was limited to access to dive holes in Hangar Cove, it was a brilliant experience to finally be able to walk on water around Rothera Point this week. We were out testing the thickness of the ice which remained between 20 and 40cm.

Massive icebergs get trapped as the ice forms

Ferg & Jason admiring the awesome views

A huuuuuge berg with Jenny Island in the background

Heading towards South Cove

Me using a different mode of transport in the same spot 2 weeks ago

Rather disappointingly the last few days has brought windy and warm weather (temperatures up to +1 and sleet yesterday!). This has caused leads (patches of open water) to open up in the ice and means we will have to wait for a lot of it to reform before we can go out on it again.

Flag Ceremony

2008-07-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

The flag on Rothera Point is traditionally replaced on the day of the sun returning to base. The ceremony was perfectly timed with the sun peeking over Stokes peaks just as we started.

Ali, our base commander, welcoming the sun

John (the eldest on base) lowers the old flag

Matt (the youngest) raises the new flag

Frozen Sea

2008-07-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Panoramic view of the sea ice around Rothera, taken from Reptile Ridge

Finally, after weeks of 'warm' (up to +3 degrees C) and windy weather it's starting to get a little more wintery. With the calm weather and temperatures dropping to -17 the sea ice has started to form. This week the ice in the local area was finally thick enough to allow travel so Birgit and I headed out to cut some holes and deploy some traps in a bid to collect some marine life for us to study.

Matt making light work of chainsawing through the 40cm thick ice in Hangar Cove

GAs & willing volunteers heading out to test the thickness of the sea ice further off base

Freeing the ice blocks
Hauling the ice blocks from the holes

After 5 days of clearig the holes of new ice and checking traps daily our catch totals a rather disappointing single Parbolasia worm.

A delightful Parbolasia. They're around 50cm long and very slimy! They are scavengers and will eat anything, apparently one was once caught in Hangar Cove which had ingested an empty Spam tin!

Sunshine straight from the fridge!

2008-07-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

North end of Stork Ridge. The route is to the right of centre

Dan (GA) and I headed out to climb a route on Stork North today. Climbing routes often get bizarre names which are highly meaningful to those who named them but usually leave others a bit bewildered - as in this case where the route is named 'straight from the fridge', sadly I have no idea why. It was a mixed route - meaning partly snow / ice and partly rock. Rock climbing whilst wearing large boots, crampons & gloves and weilding ice axes is "interesting".

Me leading up the easy bit!

On reaching the top we were rewarded with a very special sight - our first view of the sun since it disappeared behind the horizon nearly 2 months ago.

Crevasse Exploring

2008-06-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Some photos from a stunning local crevasse which Rob, Dan and I went to explore:

Dan setting up the anchors to enable us to abseil down into the crevasse (photo by Rob Webster)

We abseiled 20m down to a fairly wide snow bridge then descended another 10m on foot whilst the walls of the crevasse narrowed, just allowing us to get through.

My crevasse pose (photo by Rob Webster)

At the entrance the walls supported strange mushroom-like snow formations.

(photo by Rob Webster)

Rob admiring the icicles which made amazing sounds when chimed.

As we got to the end of our rope (meaning this was as far as we could go.. for today) it was getting fairly narrow and the walls were perfectly smooth.

(photo by Rob Webster)

Jumaring back out wasn't quite as much fun (it involves hauling yourself up the rope with the aid of 'Jumars', these can be moved up the rope and grip it when they are loaded, there's also a sling attached to one of them in which you put your foot. So it's a case of standing up in the sling then quickly moving the top jumar up as high as you can, bending your knee and moving the lower jumar & leg loop up and repeating process this lots and lots and lots of times)

Rob the Wood Bender

2008-06-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Many people give themselves projects to do over winter, most choose to learn a new skill - learning to play an instrument or perhaps improving on languages but Rob has gone one step further and given himself the incredible challenge of building a guitar. He has spent many hours in the chippy shop over the past few months showing incredible patience as he painstakingly sands away millimetres of wood to create the perfect curves and thicknesses required.

Today was rather exciting as he reached the part where he had to bend the pieces of wood for the side of the guitar. This involved soaking the wood for a few minutes before bending over a heated pipe. Pretty impressive stuff....

More photos and information on the progress of Rob's guitar making can be found on his blog http://www.robertwebster.org/blog.html

Medieval Banquet

2008-05-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

We normally make a bit of an effort for Saturday night meals, this week we decided to do something a bit different and have a medieval banquet. There was the the usual Saturday morning rush to make costumes and decorations with outstanding results.

Some of the decorations including an amazing candle holder that Al 'just knocked up'

Ferg and Matty partake in a spot of post-banquet jousting

Posing for a photo around the bar which most definately isn't in the 'lounge'

Snow & Ice

2008-05-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

There has been quite a bit of snowfall over the last week and some impressive drifts are forming around the buildings on base... Notice the position of the sun, this photo was taken around midday and at this time of year the sun is remaining really low in the sky, we're currently loosing around 7 minutes of daylight each day. It starts to get light around 10am and is dark again soon after 5pm. It also appears to be rather shy lately - often opting to hide behind the clouds.

Typically the windscoops form around the buildigs that we don't use in winter whilst elsewhere doorways, windows and pathways get drifted in and require daily digging.

I took a long overdue walk around Rothera Point this morning (it's been nearly a month since I last went round. It's a great walk, taking anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on how distracted you get by the wildlife and scenery). The light was far from ideal for photograpy but you get an idea of what the snow / ice is like at the moment.

As the sea temperature cools ice begins to form on the rocks. After last years' poor show we're keeping our fingers crossed for some decent sea ice this year. The surface of the sea begins to freeze once water temperatures reach -1.9 degrees C

It's best to let sleeping furries (Fur seals) lie - they're grumpy and very smelly. There are still a lot of them about (over 60 today) along with a few Crabeater seals, Elephant seals, snow petrels and gulls.

This is an impressive arched berg currently sat in North Cove, the large cloud was full of snow which descended on me seconds later.

Winter Trip

2008-05-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Initial plans of travelling through McCallums Pass to the other side of the island were scuppered by large amounts of snow making travelling conditions poor. James (my GA) and I decided (along with the 4 other winter trippers - Adam, Tim, Dan & Birgit) to travel to a popular campsite near Trident, just 30min skidoo drive from base. The 'short drive' ended up taking 2 hours as poor snow conditions meant that we had to double-head the sledges (using 2 skidoos to pull one sledge). On winter trips we have to take a skidoo each and 2 sledges - one the 'living unit' laden with the pyramid tent, fuel, boxes of kit (stove, tilley lamp, food), 'p-bags' (the BAS sleeping system of a camping mat, sheepskin, down sleeping bag etc), climbing gear and personal kit and the second the 'half-unit' which is mostly emergency equipment - a 'pup tent' (small 2-man tent), spare clothing & 'p-bags', fuel, 1st aid box etc... this is required incase the 1st sledge happens to disappear down a crevasse. There's no such thing as 'travelling light' down here! The whole setup is linked together with ropes so that when travelling the order is GA on front skidoo (as they generally know where they're going), linked to a sledge, which is linked to the front of the 2nd skidoo which is also towing a sledge. The tricky part is moving together so that the 2nd doo doesn't run over the rope. 1 Antarctic Campsite (3 x 2-man pyramid tents; 1 x 3-man pyramid tent [a bit of a luxury, we took this as a 'party tent' since it's a bit difficult to sqeeze 6 people into a 2-man for evening drinks and the radio sched with base]; 1 x old pup tent converted into 'toilet tent'; 6 skidoos; 6 sledges; lots of flags for marking anything that's likely to get buried in snow).

Wednesday brought poor contrast, wind and snow meaning it was unsafe to travel (as you can't see the crevasses). We occupied ourselves by attempting to build an igloo complete with tunnel-entrance. Sadly we didn't get it finished before dark (which is around 5pm these days).

Thursday was slightly more promising and allowed us to get over to and climb on a local nunatak (top of a mountain peeking through a glacier) called N26. James and I opted for a rather nice snow gulley around the back (with a not so nice walk-in through the deep snow).

Walk into the climb (we went up the wide gulley left of centre)

The snow was good and the slope not too steep so we managed to do the whole route moving together (meaning we didn't have to stop to place protection / belay one another)

View from the top - looking towards Gwendolyn & McCallums Pass

Thursday evening brought strong winds and LOTS of snow, about a metre of it. It made walking around camp rather difficult and we generally opted for crawling about as it was easier! The high winds and blowing snow made things rather unpleasant and so much of the day was spent indoors reading and playing cards.

The weather improved slightly on Saturday and after digging ourselves OUT of the tent (the door had drifted in overnight which was rather worrying) we spent four hours digging out the sledges and skidoos and attempting to move them. The snow was so soft that moving the sledges was impossibe without the doos digging themselves in and getting stuck.

There's a skidoo under there somewhere...

.. and the half unit sledge is about to disappear

Several hours of digging later - doos and sledges are returned to the surface

It took another 2 days for the snow to firm up enough to allow us to travel back home, during which time winds got up to 30-40 knots and more snow fell. Fortunatley we'd brought enough books, games and port. It took us 2 hours to dig out the tent and guy ropes which were fairly buried by this time.

Home sweet home - looking a little sorry for itself (as were we after all that digging)

Despite the digging it was great to be back under canvas and off base for a while, you can't beat camping in a big orange tent in the snow.

Bananas

2008-03-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Yes... to you this may be 'just a banana' but to me it is very likely to be my LAST banana for EIGHT MONTHS. This makes me very sad.

We're coming to the end of the summer season at Rothera. The last two Twin Otter Aircraft left today and the larger Dash 7 leaves tomorrow. Then it's just 4 weeks until the ship (the James Clark Ross) arrives and collects the remaining summer staff leaving the 22 of us in peace for winter.

It's a strange time. Summer has been busy yet enjoyable and has brought the usual mix of cool and interesting people through the base. It is especially sad to have to say goodbye to some very good friends but exciting to be spending another winter in such an amazing place.

Thursday

2008-03-06T23:11:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like most about being here is that you can wake up expecting another 'ordinary' day and it can turn out to be completely extraordinary - today was one of those days.

The weather improved (after 2 days of 30+ knot winds) and so the previously cancelled 'Winterers orientation flight' was re-scheduled. The winterers get to fly around Adelaide Island and the local area to get a feel for the place and see where they might like to go on their winter trips ('holidays'). We boarded 'Daisy' (the Dash 7 aircraft) and I got to sit in the 'jump seat' (in the cockpit) for take off :)

We spent an hour in the air flying through the Fijords to the East of Rothera, past the Argentine base San Martin and the old (unoccupied) bases of Horse Shoe Island, Stonnington and Carvajahl. Truly awesome scenery - I don't think I'll ever get bored of the mountains, snow, crevasses and ice.

The Myth (in the foreground) a mountain I climbed on my winter trip last year

Rothera

Sunlight shining through the clouds on to Marguarite Bay and the peaks of the Antarctic Peninsula

Horseshoe Island (you can just make out the hut on the peninsula), if we get good sea ice we may just make it here on our winter trips - here's hoping.

Following this Birgit and I were on SAR (Search And Rescue) boat cover for the 2nd Dash flight (we generally have a boat on the water... just in case) so we got to drive the lovely Stella (twin engined RIB - Rigid Inflatable Boat) for a while which is always a pleasure.

Daisy taking off over Hangar Cove

After lunch Birgit and I enjoyed a rather pleasant dive in Hangar Cove. The underwater visibility has improved greatly over the last week and is now about 15m.

To top off an already fabulous day Drew and I tackled an ice climb on 'Exhibition Buttress' which I believe is so called as it is directly at the top of the ramp and so the whole base can see you making an exhibition of yourself. We took it in 2 pitches, I lead the 1st and Drew the 2nd. We ended up walking off in the dusk (which is currently around 10pm) which was very cool.

Exhibition Buttress - the climb was straight up the mushroom shaped patch of ice

Me leading the 1st pitch

I finally got to scratch my new ice axes :)

Drew at the top with views over Ryder Bay.

The ramp & start of Reptile Ridge (Exhibition Buttress can be seen in the middle), the Hangar is the large building to the left. To the right of the photo is South Cove (leading into Ryder Bay) and to the far left - the imaginatively named Hangar Cove. This photo was taken from my bedroom window - I can't really complain about the view.

Climbing Around Rothera Point

2008-02-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

Drew took Birgit and I for a spot of Rock Climbing around Rothera Point today. As with ALL of the rock around here it was more than a little bit loose but an enjoyable route.

Drew leading the route
Me belaying Drew

Birgit

January - The Month of Minke

2008-01-30T13:16:00.000-08:00

January has been the month for Minke whales. With huge amounts of krill (a shrimp-like marine creature which is the main food source for many Antarctic animals) in the water around Rothera, wildlife has been abundant. There were Minke whale sightings every day in January, pilots reported seeing pods of up to 50 whales in Marguarite Bay and nearly every boat trip was rewarded with a visit from one or two curious individuals. Assisting on my CTD boat suddenly became very desirable despite the requirement to help winch the CTD. On two occasions this month we had Minke circling around and swimming under the small inflatable CTD boat – it was an amazing experience.

We had a pod of Orca (killer whales) visit later on in the month, they were too far out in Ryder Bay to get any decent photos of them so I stood and watched them through binoculars. They were clearly playing around and having a lot of fun, one of the calves leapt completely out of the water – an awesome sight!

Here Comes Summer

2007-10-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

The 1st BAS Twin Otter

Well that's it - Winter is officially over. The first of the BAS Twin Otters and the Dash 7 arrived today bringing BAS personnel and this means the start of the Antarctic Summer season.

The Dash 7

Winter seems to have flown by, I can't decide if I'm ready for summer or not. It's great to have a new input of people but having spent the last 6 months with just the 22 of us I have a feeling it's going to take some getting used to...

Stork Bowl

2007-10-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

We're very lucky having a local 'ski-slope' (Vals) which we can use for snowboarding & skiing. When the weather and snow is particularly good one of the GAs will usually arrange a trip to Stork Bowl. Situated on Stork Ridge it lies just outside the 'Technical Travel Area' (the area in which we are allowed to travel without a GA). Unlike Vals it is unsuitable for skidoo travel so access to the top of the run is by foot.The 1st Dash (plane) is due to arrive tomorrow bringing BAS personnel and signifiying the start of summer. So we thought a trip up Stork Bowl would be a good way to end the winter, since I had also volunteered for Sunday cook we got up at 6am and headed up the hill.

Because of the risk of crevasses we have to be roped up for the first ascent (after this we're safe enough if we stick to our original tracks). It takes about 10 minutes to walk up and 1 minute to board down but it's certainly worth it, especially as I got to put the 1st lines in through the fresh powder :)

Anatomy of a Dog on Stork Ridge

2007-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today we had was what has seemed like a rare phenomenon over winter - a good weather day co-inciding with a day off. For the latter part of winter it has felt like we've only had good weather on school days. Rog very kindly offered me the chance to get out to play on the mountains. We did a route called 'Anatomy of a dog' which is a snow / ice climb up a gulley on Stork Ridge (the snow-filled gulley can be seen just to the left of centre in the photo above) . The snow was in a lovely condition and we were able to climb up without pitching it (i.e. we were roped together but didn't have to put in any protection and belay eachother up as it was pretty easy going).

Once on top of the ridge we were treated to spectaular views of Orca (another mountain) and the Sheldon Glacier. We continued to walk along the whole length of Stork Ridge descending into Stork Bowl.

Looking East along Stork Ridge

Looking West along Stork Ridge

Shadows - still a novelty after 2 months without them

Reptile Ridge and one of the Borek planes on the Ski-Way
Orca & crevasses on the Sheldon Glacier

With it being such a lovely day we decided to stop by Badger (not sure how these mountains get thir names) and do a quick route on this too.

On top of Badger

Jim had the brilliant idea of serving gin and tonics in the caboose at Vals before dinner so we asked him to bring our snowboards up too. The end of the day was rounded off with a few runs at Vals and G&Ts in the sun followed by another amazing dinner from Cyril including loads of freshies kindly brought in by the Borek team - all in all a pretty prefect day in the Antarctic.

Visitors from the Real World

2007-10-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today we welcomed visitors to Rothera - the first 'outsiders' since the ship departed 6 months ago. The distant sound of the engines was very surreal and it was a strange feeling seeing the planes appear over Rothera. Two Borek Twin Otter planes landed on the freshly-cleared runway. The Boreks arrived from Canada and are on their way south to Patriot Hills (a private base in Antarctica owned by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions who provide Antarctic expedition support and tours), they stop off at Rothera to swap their wheels for skis (as the skis are much lighter and from here on they only land on snow).

The pilots and crew very kindly brought with them LOADS of fresh fruit and veg - pinapples, mangos, oranges, apples, bananas, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, onions all sorts of luxuries which we had been without over winter. We all went a little mad piling our plates with salad and fruit and exclaiming how good it tasted. Dinner was followed by a very sociable evening in the bar sampling vodka and 'clamato' juice (some strange concoction of clam and tomato juice which is apparently very popular in Canada)..... I can't say I'd recommend it.

Snow Clearing

2007-10-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

With the threat of people, ships and planes drawing ever nearer this week has seen the start of preparations for summer with clearing of winter snow from roadways, pathways and the runway. This is a huge task for the mechs but they seem quite happy playing with their big toys....

Rocktober Fest

2007-10-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

The end of winter was in sight - so with the Borek Twin Otters due to arrive the following week and after 4 days of base scrub-out (tidying the base for summer) it was a perfect time to have a party, the last one with just the 22 of us. Infact we intended to celebrate all weekend as it was also Birgit's birthday (for which she had planned an Oktoberfest feast) and time for the now traditional Winter Film Festival.

Saturday night saw a party in the sledge store, with some people dresssing in typical FID clothing for the occasion (FID - Falkland Island Dependencies Survey was the original name British Antarctic Survey, thus people working for FIDS called themselves Fids). The band played under the new name "Ass of BAS" and with 9 of us on stage at one point there were nearly more band members than people in the audience.
Tris with Matt (or should that be Matilda?) who has obviously been here too long

The Oktoberfest and Film Festival evening was planned for the Sunday night, both food and films were outstanding. The films included a horror film from the Bonner Lab, various photos to music, films of extreme skiing & boarding, winter trips, an underwater film from Tris filmed with the ROV he BUILT over winter and Rothera version of 'Stomp' (the group that make music from random household items) - all very impressive. Films were watced between courses of a Bovarian meal prepared by Cyril and Birgit.

Shag Rock

2007-10-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

Dickie, Drew and I took a boat over to Shag Rock today so that Dickie could count the blue-eyed shags that nest there. Shag Rock is a small island situated to the West of Lagoon Island and it is absolutely covered in shags, 100s of them. Drew and I spent an hour or so taking photos and observing the antics of the shags (some flying in with seaweed for nesting material others simply stealing it from the nest next door) whilst Dickie had the unenviable task of counting them all. Despite the awful smell of birds on a seafood diet it was pretty spectacular experience.

Seal pups on Lagoon & going on holiday by mistake

2007-09-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

A lovely September morning combined with a decent low tide prompted me to plan a boat trip out to Lagoon Island to do some shore work (photographing some plastic panels which had been buried under rocks in the intertidal to see what marine life would grow on them). So my trusty crew (Dickie, Roger & Rob) and I set off for a morning on Lagoon. On arrival we were greeted by a weddell seal and her pup which must've been no more than a week old.
We walked over to the west side of the island to look for the intertidal panels, unfortunately most had been damaged by ice bergs over winter and had the pieces had to be recovered leaving little to photograph. Task completed we wandered back to the hut for a well-earned cup of tea and were pleasantly suprised by the appearance of a brand new seal - less than an hour old.

We noticed that the wind had picked up during our stay but decided to give it a go and headed back for base. However once out of the shelter of Lagoon Bay the sea conditions deteriorated and we reckoned we'd be better off staying on Lagoon (a decision in no way influenced by the presence of the seal pups). Since we'd not planned to stay we had no overnight gear with us so had to make use of the 'emergency' supplies in the hut. Dickie and Rob had not even brought any shoes or outdoor clothing with them (not really required as we all had boatsuits on but a good idea to bring it for just such circumstances). No worries - there is spare clothing in the hut too - one size fits all....

2007-09-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Many apologies for having not updated my blog, I've been rather busy. I promise I'll try and do something about it soon. In the mean time here's a photo of an incredibly lovely weddell seal pup which I've just been to visit on Anchorage Island.

Second Winter Trip

2007-09-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about wintering in Antarctica is the winter trips. We each get to spend 2 weeks (one at the start and end of winter) with a GA ( mountaineer / field guide) camping / climbing / skidooing / snowboarding. For my second trip I'd hoped to be able to get out on the sea ice, which although made a brief appearance around Rothera, was never thick enough to travel on. So I decide to try and get to the abandoned Chilean base at Carvajal and do some climbing and snowboarding along the way.

Roger (my designated GA) and I set off on the Monday loaded up with a spare skidoo engine which we were dropping off for Mark and Andy who were temporarily stuck on the other side of the island with a broken skidoo. Unfortunately for them they had also mislaid their 'poo tent' and had been stuck in high winds and blowing snow for the previous 3 days with out the luxury of wind / snow-free toilet facilities. They were still in high spirits when we met up with them and seem to have enjoyed their 3 days of lie-up (sat in the tent awaiting good weather, if the weather and or contrast is bad you can't travel anywhere as you can't see where the crevasses are). Antarctic AA job finished with Andy and Mark on their way back to base Rog and I carried on heading for Carvajal. 10 minutes later we found ourselves surrounded by low cloud an had to stop, the cloud refused to clear so we had to pitch the tent where we were and hope for better weather in the morning.

Andy poses (again) with the broken doo

Good weather the next day enabled us to reach our destination, where we were later joined by Lizzie and Richard. An enjoyable afternoon and night was spent at Carvajal where we slept in the bar. The corridor to the bunk rooms was quite creepy, straight out of The Shining. The base hasn't been visited by the Chileans for a few years but there is still lots there - skidoos, RIBs (inflatable boats), books, food and a fully equipped gym. Kenny (our generator mechanic) managed to get the generators going on his trip here earlier in the year, we had to rely on tilley lamps and candles to find our way around the buildings.

Buildings at Carvajal

The Bar & "The Shining Corridor"

On Wednesday we headed off to pitch camp near the Myth (a mountain which we were hoping to climb) leaving Lizzie and Richard to continue exploring. On our way we met Drew and Steve who were heading to Carvajal. Once the tent was up (a "swift" process taking merely 2 hours to unpack sledges and dig in the tent) we skidooed over to the Myth putting in tracks (skidoo and GPS) which we could use the next day should the weather not be ideal. Then went to look at the 'pinnacle' an impressive pillar of rock at the base of the Myth.

The Pinnacle at the base of The Myth

Thursday turned out to be as glorious as Mark had predicted on the radio sched the night before so we headed for the Myth. We kitted up with the usual gear - harness, rope, helmet, crampons, ice axes, snow stakes and all the "jingly janglies" (a vast array of metal work clipped on to your harness for the purposes of creating anchors to secure yourself to the mountain; belay devices to allow you to control your or your partners ascent / descent and gadgetry to allow you rescue your partner from a crevasse should they be so inclined to pop into one).

A few small crevasses on the face of The Myth

At the top

The North Ridge of The Myth

As you can see it was difficult finding space to pitch the tent

It took about 3 hours to get to the top via the North ridge and we were bathed in sunshine the whole way, a new experience after so long without proper sunlight. The views were stunning, impressive mountain ranges to the North and East, the Fuch's Ice Piedmont covering the whole West side of Adelaide Island, and sea ice and icebergs out to sea. Massive crevasses littered the slopes of the Myth and surrounding mountains and our tent was a mere speck, barely visible, surrounded by ice and snow. It was truly awesome. A few hours later and we were back at the skidoos and drove back to camp for a well-earned cup of tea. The icing on the cake was the appearance of 'sun dogs' (a relatively common halo, an atmospheric optical phenomenon mostly associated with the refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals) which made for an impressive tent photo.

After the success of Thursday we should have expected things to take a turn for the worse, again Mark was spot on with his predictions, though unfortunately this time it was for 40knot winds and blowing snow. Still, a day of lie up is never a bad thing and we passed the time reading, playing cribbage and backgammon and learning how to play the mouse organ. However the bad weather wasn't showing any sign of letting up and one day of lie-up quickly turned into 2, 3 and finally 6 days! Plans of snowboarding down Snow Dittie, exploring the Sloman Glacier and climbing more local mountains were somewhat scuppered and our new, perhaps less inspiring challenges included finding the toilet tent in the snow storms, digging out the sledges and skidoos so they didn't disappear, striving to be the top scorer in cribbage, backgammon and killer dice, getting beyond "3 blind mice" in the learn to play the mouse organ book, and those ever difficult tent-decisions such as choosing between Fawlty Towers or Eddie Izzard on the ipod and port or Highland Park? Fortunately we were well-stocked beverage wise unlike Drew and Steve who were also stuck in bad weather at Carvajal (Lizzie and Richard had made a succesful break for freedom on Thursday). During one brief break in the weather we built a tower from snow blocks, sadly it didn't stand up to the 50knot winds that evening.

The short-lived tower
Snow accumulation around the sledges

When the weather eventually improved it took 3 hours of digging to free the sledges, tents and skidoos (despite frequent digging throughout the week, the snow was constantly building up). The weather held up and we made it through Mc Callums pass back to the East side of the island and home to Rothera for a much needed shower!

Badminton - Winter Style

2007-09-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

Only in winter would a seemingly sensible badminton match turn out like this....

Tris, Matt & Lizzy ride to the Hangar in style

Tris & Pete - looking err... lovely?

Andy & Drew - Badminton Champions

Roger & Tris mincing around on bicycles

Weather Balloon

2007-08-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

I got up early this morning (well 7:30, it's early enough) to go and observe Rob launching a weather balloon. This is done twice a week by Matt or Rob at the same time as other weather balloons are released all over the world, thus gaining beakers world-wide enourmous amounts of data about what's going on up there (the word beaker is frequently used to refer to 'scientists', presumably because we work with glass beakers full of exciting chemicals all the time and the scientist in the muppets was also called Beaker) . It was a gorgeous morning, we're still not seeing the sun above the mountains yet but we do get sunrises and sunsets which last for hours which are brilliant and truly stunning.

The huge latex balloon gets filled with helium and the instrument (which sends back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity) is attached to it. Then it is taken outside and released..... As the balloon climbs higher and higher it gets bigger and bigger -apparently it gets to the size of a double decker bus by which time the balloon is only one molecule thick, it then bursts - that would be amazing to see but sadly it's about 30km up by then.

An Unusual Visitor

2007-08-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

Today was a very special day - Richard had popped down to the Bonner Lab to do a bit of electrical work.... 'there's a strange-looking penguin on the runway' he said (knowing very well what it was) I went to the window to have a look and saw an Emperor penguin :) These are the largest of the penguins reaching over a metre tall. The nearest colony is some 13km away and they rarely visit Rothera, though most years there will be one or two who get lost and turn up here. Needless to say minutes after the radio call went out to announce its presence the whole base was out with cameras and huge grins.

Beach Party

2007-07-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

What with it being winter and there being no sun Lizzie decided that it was the perfect time to have a beach-themed party. It was an excellent idea - it gave us all the chance to air our shorts and t-shirts and Jim the perfect excuse to create some great cocktails.

Sun

2007-07-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

The route we attempted on Middle Stork

Lizzy and I went for a climb on Middle Stork today, unfortuantely we had to cut it short as the snow / ice was making very unusual sounds which we weren't completely happy with! Just as we got back to the skiddos we noticed that Vals (our local skiing area) was looking very unusal and realised that it was because the SUN was shining on it. We've not seen the sun for 2 months now as it has not been high enough in the sky to peek over the mountains. So we jumped onto the skidoo and made it over to Vals just in time to experience the sun on our faces and be re-united with our shadows! Sadly it was sort lived, lasting only a few minutes but it'll be back again tomorrow :)

Making the briefest of appearances above Stork Ridge

Reptile Ridge in sunlight

Nacreous Clouds

2007-07-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

Nacreous clouds (sometimes called mother of pearl clouds) form high up in the atmosphere (at altitudes of 15,000-25,000 metres). Due to their high altitude they recieve sunlight from below the horizon causing them to shine brightly before dawn or after dusk. Displays like this aren't common but are seen occasionally throughout winter.

These photos were taken around 10am, it's great being able to see such fantastic sunrises and cloud displays without having to get up at an unsociable hour!

Live Earth Antarctica

2007-07-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Back in April the Rothera wintering band (Nunatak) were asked if we'd like to preform for the Live Earth concerts. Apparently we weren't their 1st choice (really?!) but the organisers hadn't realised that it's pretty much impossible to get people into Antarctica during winter. So, after months of practise and what seemed like endless interviews we finally recorded our 2 songs and on 7th July 'played' to our biggest audience so far, 2million, which was quite a jump from 50 people in the sledge store!

Unfortunately there's a lack of roadies down here so we had to set up our own kit

Filming

If anyone wants to hear what we sounded like just search for 'nunatak' on www.youtube.com

Following the success of our 'world-wide tour' we recieved a total of 6 e-mails from avid fans, had a Nunatak facebook site created in our honour and politely turned down 3 recording offers - ahh the pain of fame. Back to our day jobs it is then ...

A little bit chilly....

2007-07-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today has been the coldest day at Rothera since I've been here, temperatures plummeted to -18 degrees C. The winds have averaged 38 knots with maximum gusts around 58knots, at these speeds the windchill factor means it feels around -45 degrees C. A few of us took a walk up the cross on Rothera Point to experience the elements, we were only out for 15-20 minutes but Dickie's nose started to turn white with the cold, a scary reminder of what these extreme temperatures can do. However, compared to most of Antarctica we're pretty warm, it was -57 at the South Pole today!

Apologies for the lack of posts lately - I'll do my best to get things up to date soon. We've been pretty busy with Midwinter celebrations and rehearsing for Nunatak's Live Earth appearance on 7th July.

Flag

2007-06-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Today is the shortest day, from this point on we should start getting more light and sometime soon the sun should re-appear from its hiding place behind the mountains. We've not experienced total darkness but the days have become pretty short with only 2-3 hours of dusky daylight.

Traditionally the eldest person on base lowers the old flag and the youngest raises the new one.

Richard (the electrician) lowering the flag
Matt (the electronic engineer) raising the new flag

The photos were taken around 1pm local so you get some kind of idea of the amount of light we have.

Midwinters Day

2007-06-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Rothera Wintering Team

Midwinters Day started with Mike the base commander bringing everyone breakfast in bed. He insisted on doing it wearing his favourite pink dress and blonde wig which he seems to find an excuse to wear at every fancy dress party.

A disturbing image of our BC

A few of us took a walk around Rothera point and were greeted by a lone Adelie penguin which decided to follow us for a while, and a host of furs seals who were as grumpy as ever.

The afternoon gave way to more traditions - a screening of 'The Thing' (a horror movie set in Antarctica) followed by the swapping of midwinter presents. In days gone by before internet and phones were so freely available FIDs spent many hours / weeks (usually in the in the chippy shop -carpenter's work shop) crafting a winter present to be given to another winterer. These days it is good to see that people still put a lot of time and effort into creating special and unusual gifts. Presents are allocated by drawing names from a hat. This year gifts ranged from wine bottle holders, lamps and framed photos to a balance board, pin hole camera and wooden bowls. I made a penguin-shaped wine bottle holder from steel and received a wooden puzzle in a box which I've still not solved, Matt (it's creator) said he'd give me the solution before I leave in 2009 if I haven't solved it by then!

Cyril our wonderful french chef did not disappoint us, having spent all day in the kitchen, assisted throughout the day by pretty much everyone else on base, created an amazing feast including a whole suckling pig which he'd acquired from one of the ships in the summer. After dinner we were visited by 'santa' and everyone received a shoebox full of gifts from family and friends back home, these had been sent down in the summer and were a complete surprise to most people. After dinner we retired to the bar and much fun was had with the modelling balloons both Tris and I had been given in our parcels.

Cyril showing Tris how to stuff a pig & The finished article complete with the last apple on base

Midwinters Week Begins...

2007-06-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Midwinter is a time for celebration in the Antarctic as it marks the point when the sun starts to return and the days will get longer. Here at Rothera we don't get complete darkness, we're enjoying 3-4hrs of dusky daylight at the moment, but we haven't seen the sun for over a month.
We have the pleasure of a week off for Midwinter which this year was full of traditional and not-so-traditional Rothera Rituals. The week kicked off with a night spent in snow holes at Vals on Friday night, which was surprisingly warm and comfortable. Monday heralded the traditional Winter Olympics-this year's events included abseiling off the tower, skidoo trials, bog-chisel (wooden pole with a metal spike on the end used for chipping through ice) javelin, muckluck (boots) throwing and snow-sculpture.

It's a whale (obviously!)

Steve hurling a muckluck

The evenings entertainment was another age-old tradition, the midwinter pub crawl. Groups of people had spent hours (some days) creating masterpieces of unusual drinking establishments. It all started in the electrician's workshop with light displays and chilled beers, then on to Tris and Matt's snowcave bar which was truly amazing. The GAs set up the 'bungee bar' where we got to throw ourselves at our favourite beverages. This was followed by 'O'Bonners' Irish bar in the Bonner Lab and The Drift Inn (aka Boatshed). Then the long walk back up the hill to an array of interesting 'drips' at doc's surgery and much needed hotdogs in Cyril's kitchen. The final call was a coffee bar in Rob's office. All in all a fantastic evening with more than the average number of sore heads in the morning.

Tris & Matt inside their snow hole-bar

Kelvin diving for his next beverage at the Bungee Bar

Halloween?

2007-05-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Just another Saturday night at Rothera

Since Midwinter (21st July) is a big celebration in Antarctica it is sometimes looked upon as our Christmas (as we don't have time in the summer to have the Christmas week off). Lizzy decided that if July is Christmas time then May should be the time to have a Halloween party, so we did. There were some sterling costume efforts as usual, some more scary than others, for example winter base commander Mike turning up in a little pink dress and blonde wig....again.

Pancake Diving in Hangar Cove

2007-05-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

At this time of year the presence of ice can be problematic for diving and getting out and about on the water, it's often a case of too much ice for diving but not enough ice to travel on foot or skidoo. Hangar Cove (one of our regular dive sites, near the Hangar) was full of pancake ice (when the surface starts to freeze it forms 'pancakes' of slushy ice) which is okay for boating and diving but large amounts of ice around the point made access tricky, so we decided to move the Nodwell over to Hangar Cove from it's usual location at the Wharf and launch our small RIB Nimrod directly into Hangar Cove.

Pancake ice in Hangar Cove

Launching Nimrod with the Nodwell

Kelvin and I spent 35 minutes at -1.5 degrees C, successfully completing the task of photographing 12 "settlement plates" (plastic plates which have been in situ for 4 years to see which marine organisms will settle and grow on them). It was amazing surfacing through the loosely-formed pancake ice - pieces of soft ice broke off and sank down past us like snow. As we de-kitted we realised that a layer of ice had formed on our 1st stages.

Ice on the dive kit which formed during the dive

Thanks to Jim (boatman) for the photos :o)

Winter Trip

2007-05-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Nansen Sledge and Pyramid Tent

One of the best things about Wintering at Rothera has to be the winter trips, everyone gets 2 weeks off base one at the beginning and end of winter. You and a GA (field assistant / guide) get to spend a week camping / climbing / snowboarding / skiing. Liz and I set off on in relative darkness at 10am, our skidoos roped together and towing sledges packed with enough food and gear to keep us going for a month - it sounds over the top but if the weather turns you really can be stuck in your tent for days or weeks on end, plus you have to have almost double the amount in case one sledge falls into a crevasse! We set up camp near Trident, about 10km North of Rothera. Our original intentions were to aim for an abandoned Chilean base (Carvajal) on the far side of Adelaide Island but poor weather and short days meant we'd get more done if we stayed closer to base. Roger and Matt joined us and once tents were up we skidooed over to the recently named 'Hangover Buttress' on Trident and did a brilliant ice climb up one of the gullys. The next day Liz and I swapped gullys with Rog and Matt and enjoyed another excellent climb.

Hangover Buttress & Rog checking how wide the crevasse is

Ice climbing on Hangover Buttress

The next 2 days were windy with poor contrast so we were confined to the campsite. We made use of our time by creating a stunning snow hole and having fun with long exposures and torches in the evening....

The temperature stayed around -10 to -18 all week hence the tents got pretty chilly once the primus stove and tilley lamps were off. Frost formed around the top of your sleeping bag overnight and even the port began to freeze. The pyramid tents, tilley lamps and stoves are pretty much identical to ones that have been used since the days of Shackleton and Scott proving they are ideal for the job. Our sleeping 'systems' are however much more advanced and consist a wooden board topped with a foam mattress, inflatable 'Thermarest', a sheepskin, a thick down sleeping bag and fleece liner so once your inside it's pretty warm.

The final day brought good weather which allowed us to rope up and trek up Gwendolyn with our snowboards and skis. It was painfully cold at -20 degrees C but worth it for the views and the board down (made more interesting by having to avoid putting any turns in when you were crossing the snow bridged crevasses!!). On the way back to the tents we took a sort detour to enjoy the sun setting over Mc Callums Pass, it was strange to think that it is probably the last time we'll see the sun for a while as it no longer rises above the mountains and we're loosing about 10min of daylight each day.

Trekking up Gwendolyn & Sunset over McCallums Pass

Night Watch

2007-05-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in every winterer's season when it's your turn to do nightwatch. This week it's my turn. The role of night watch is basically to make sure there's always someone awake on base to be ready to respond to any emergency situation, but also to provide emergency radio cover for field parties, do rounds of the whole base to check doors are shut and anything that doesn't need to be on is switched off and of course there's the glamarous part - cleaning. Any time left over is free time which I made use of by experimenting with my new-found photograpy skills in the dark room, putting together the scalextrix track, going to the gym (which was suprisingly empty at 3am) and catching up with all those little jobs you never find time to do.

Part of the night watch round invloves going through a small door in one of the phone booths to check the water pumps are working properly. Behind the unusually small door lies a Heath Robinson affair of pipes and cables and a very old computer which beeps occasionally and displays the message 'HELP' in green writing on a very old monitor (apparently it's very important and is busy measuring ozone).

Mark's 30th - Top Of The Pops Party

2007-04-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Mark's (GA) 30th birthday we had a 'Top of the Pops' themed party. There were some great costumes both stunning and disturbing. I went for the obscure having found some armour in the fancy dress box I covered it with dried banana chips thus giving Banarama.... It was a good source of post-beer snack even if some people didn't get it! I'll let the photos explain themselves.

Photos by Ali Simpson (Doc)

The night progressed with a top 30 countdown from Smashey and Nicey (Tris and Mark) ending with a performance from the band. A good evening and yet another excuse to dress up :)

The JCR - the last ship North

2007-04-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

The JCR arrived on 9th April to bring the final supplies for winter and to take the remaining summer visitors home. On 14th April, following a busy few days of unloading supplies and re-loading with cargo from Rothera, the JCR was ready to depart.
Unpacking the winter supplies of frozen food

The 22 winterers gathered on the wharf to see her off with the aid of some out-of-date flares. It was a strange feeling waving goodbye to our last physical contact with the outside world for 6 months.

There then followed 2 days of a base-wide 'scrub-out', where we put our normal jobs on hold to tidy and 'winterise' the base. We were expecting a 2nd round of practical jokes to be left by the departing builders, however their imagination seems limited yet cruel - they have hidden (or eaten?) the base's only supply of jaffa cakes!!!! We are not amused. It's certainly a lot quieter here now but we're all in high spirits looking forward to the magic of the Antarctic winter :o)

Under The Sea....

2007-04-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Diving in Antarctica is a part of my job (how brilliant is that!). It's not as cold as you might think, despite the water temperature being a chilly -0.5 degrees C our dry suits keep us fairly warm. We use 'Agas' (a type of full face mask) with in built comms which allow us to speak to eachother underwater and to the supervisor at the surface. Diving tasks may include photographing settlement plates, checking study areas for signs of iceberg scour and retriving data loggers which record temperature and flourescence (which gives an indication of the amount of phytoplankton in the water column, loggers can be seen in the photo below).

As the temperatures drop over the next few months the surface of the sea will start to freeze. Once it's in a stable state we'll be able to create holes using our outrageously sized chainsaw and dive under the ice. Now the summer phytoplankton blooms are dying off the visibility is improving all the time. This week it's been about 20m but we can apparently expect 50m + in winter.

Musical Madness

2007-04-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Rothera's wintering band have been asked to record a song for Al Gore's Live Earth, to be shown to 2 billion people worldwide in July. Fortunately due to our location our performance will be pre-recorded and not live (phew). This month a BAS photographer visited Rothera and one of his tasks was to get some photos of 'Nunatak' (the band formerly known as Rachet Death). It was certainly an unusual photo shoot.....

Shackleton Departs

2007-03-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Ernest Shackleton departed Rothera on 22nd March with the last of the 2006 winterers and summer visitors on board. It was an emotional time saying goodbye to everyone after such a brilliant summer. The final ship (the JCR) is due in April bringing a few supplies and collecting 30 builders who have been working on the new Bransfield building all summer. Once she leaves we 22 winterers will be left to fend for ourselves for about 6 months until the planes arrive at the start of the summer season.

The departing winterers stuck religiously to the age-old tradition of playing pranks on the new wintering team. The previous night many had returned from the ship to locked rooms (none of the rooms have keys but can be locked from inside, this had been done then the windows closed from the outside meaning use of ski-poles to unlock the windows!). After the ship had left we discovered all the spoons and 3 pool balls had been hidden. The 500m of CTD rope had been wound around the corridor of the Bonner Lab and inside mine, Birgits and Dicke's offices, tying in the kettle, mugs, chairs and all manner of objects along the way. Roger's favourite mug wound its way into the aquarium and the web-streamed radio had been tuned into a foreign station with the password changed. Still, we got our own back with hidden speaking alarm clocks and strategically placed ball bearings which would roll with the ship and no doubt be highly annoying!

Training

2007-03-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

Living and working in such an isolated area of the world requires us to be very self-reliant. There are no emergency services down here and in the event of a fire or medical emergency we may all be called upon to assist. All winterers recieve breathing apparatus training, entering a burning building would be a last resort but knowing how to use the BA gear would allow us to search for missing people in a smoke filled room. Birgit and I had the 1st stage of our BA training which was promptly put to use during a Major Incident Plan scenario the following week. The MIP involves the whole base and this year the scenario was a fire in one of the old buildings with seriously injured people trapped inside. The makeup and the acting was very convincing and we even had fake smoke. Everyone has a part to play be it controlling radio communications, using vehicles as ambulances, re-arranging the gym into a make-shift treatment area, working out methods of evacuation (flights etc) or making the much needed cups of tea.

A few of us also recieved some refresher training in the use of chainsaws this week. When the sea ice forms we'll need to use the chainsaw to cut holes for diving and CTDing. The chainsaw we use is an absolute beast with a 6 foot bar!! Next week 'Doc School' begins and shall continue though winter. Ali our doc shall, over the course of the next few months, be teaching us all manner of advanced first aid including plastering, bandaging, stretchering, inserting venflons (tubes into veins for introducing fluids / medication) and stitching. All good fun but hopefully skills which will not be required.

Reptile Ridge

2007-03-10T17:58:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Mark (one of the GAs) kindly offered to take me up onto Reptile Ridge for an afternoon of walking / scrambling / basic climbing. For this we had to be roped together and carry all manner of 'jingly janglies' (that's a technical term -obviously!-for the clever bits of mountaineering metalwork), including ice axes and crampons.

The first task was to hike up the slope at Vals and cross the small bergschund at the top (posh word for a crevasse near the head of a mountain glacier where the peak emerges from the glacier, so I'm lead to believe anyway), it was only a small one and we were soon up and onto the Ridge, which offers lovely views out over Ryder Bay. We hiked along the Ridge for the next 4 hours. A brilliant way to spend a Saturday afternoon :o)

Bye Bye Daisy

2007-03-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

By late February all field parties had returned to base and the two satellite 'bases' Fossil Bluff and Sky Blu had been shut down for winter. The 8th March saw the last plane leave Rothera this season, the Dash 7 (Daisy) left in style performing a impressive fly by, sadly we stood on the wrong side of the Bonner Lab to get the full effect!

Rothera Party Season

2007-03-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

The end of February brought the now traditional Folk Night, which provided everyone with the opportunity to get up and showcase their talents in the sledge store. There were some outstanding acts including 'Blind Date' (GA style), poems, comedy sketches, musical interludes and a masterful rendition of twinkle twinkle little star performed by blowing over bottles filled with water. Cyril (Chef) and Kelvin (Dive Officer) proved to be excellent compares. My contribution was helping to organise the evening and playing my sax with the band, the last appearance of 'Ratchet Death' (actually Rat S**t Death but that's a whole different story), the next appearance will be from 'Nunatak' (which is a the name for the exposed summit of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier and not a bunch of angry nuns). Our potential performance for Live Earth in July has forced us to change the name.

Early March was a time for lots of people to leave thus providing an excellent excuse for a party. Starting off in the Hangar with a game or two of volleyball followed by a stunning BBQ (where the food had to be eaten rather quickly and the salad was frozen!). The rest of the evening was spent in the boat shed which had been dramatically transformed for a dance party. A sterling effort topped by someone opening the doors around midnight to reveal the sunset over Jenny Island.

The next morning we said our farewells to, among others, Sue Ann (who'd been doing some of her PhD research at Rothera over summer) and Adam (Summer mechanic). It's been a brilliant start to my 2 and a 1/2 years and really sad to see good friends leave.

Crevasses and Whales

2007-02-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

I finally got a chance to go on a trip into a local crevasse on Thursday evening. A couple of GAs kindly volunteered to take Emma, Julian and myself into the crevasse at the top of the ramp (a 2min skidoo ride from base). It was very very cool, very cave like with icicles resembling stalactites. Despite the dull weather outside it was still pretty light inside and very blue.

On Friday afternoon, sat in the Bonner (lab where I work) we got a message over the radio (we all use VHF radios on base to communicate as well as 'stentophones' (or "bing-bongs") which are located on the walls at convenient places inside the main buildings, you can call a specific stentophone or do a general 'bing-bong' to give a message out to everyone. It's only relatively recently that the base has had phones in offices) that there were Orca (Killer Whales) in Ryder Bay. So we ran down to the wharf and were lucky enough to spot 6 beautiful whales swimming by some 300m off the wharf. Managed to get a cool photo of a mother and her calf. Saturday we saw 3 humpback whales, didn't have my camera with me, but was brilliant to see.

Stork Bowl

2007-02-25T14:07:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday evening a few of us went up to Stork Bowl to go boarding and skiing. We had a GA with us (experienced mountaineer / climber type people who aim to prevent us falling down crevasses etc) and had to hike up, being roped together for the 1st time up in case we came across any hidden crevasses. It took about 15min to walk up then 1 min to get down. But it was well worth it for making fresh tracks in the fresh snow-sweet :o)

We managed 4 runs, all excellent and I performed my special 'headside 180' manoeuvre only once. The edge of the bowl formed a natural 1/4 pipe, which was pretty cool. There were spectacular views out over Ryder Bay and as we headed back the sun was setting turning all the mountains pink. Can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday night and am certainly looking forward to some lovely winter powder days up there.

Winterer's flight around Adelaide Island

2007-02-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

Last week I got to go on the 'winterer's local area familiarisation flight'. Intended to show us around Adelaide Island so we can get an idea of where we might like to go on our winter trips. Over winter we'll get two opportunities to hop on a skidoo with a FGA (Field General Assistant) and head out across Adelaide Island camping / climbing /hiking / snowboarding / skiing for 7 days. It was a good opportunity to get an aerial view of base too.

The small base with the red buildings is Carvajal, an old British base given over to the Chileans and later abandoned. They were intending to come back to it so it has been left fully equipped and until last year there was still gas for the gas stove! This can be reached in 6hrs by skidoo from Rothera if the weather is good or 6 days if the weather is bad (meaning slow travel and days spent laid up in the tents).

Weather

2007-02-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

As the nights are finally starting to get darker we've had some amazing sunsets....

...and one evening I witnessed the impressive phenomena of a Lenticular (or 'spaceship') cloud which appeared over Ryder Bay.

'Holiday' at the Bluff

2007-02-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

I've just got back from a week's holiday at 'Bluebell Cottage' Fossil Bluff, a small hut built in 1961 on Alexander Island, some 200 miles South of Rothera (http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/Living_and_Working/Stations/Fossil_Bluff/index.html). During the summer months there are always 2 people stationed at the Bluff to give meteorological observations for the aircraft and to assist with aircraft re-fuelling for planes heading further South to Sky Blu and people out in the field. It was a brilliant flight down, despite the poor weather, as it was my 1st time in the air in Antarctica. I got to sit in the 'co-pilot' seat and was even allowed to fly for a while!

The hut hasn't changed too much since the 60's, the bunks are original and it has an old fashioned Rayburn stove (not the original Aga but much like it) which is used for heating / cooking. It's backed by huge scree slopes littered with fossils and has stunning views out over the permanent sea ice of George VI sound to the mountains of the peninsular.

The Rayburn was very good for baking bread, bearded gingerbread men and scones, which went down well at the Twin Otter Service Station. Apart from baking and re-fuelling planes time was spent walking (I nearly managed to get to the top of the 'path' through the scree behind the hut but had to give up near the top as it was a case of 1 step up and 3 steps sliding back!), trying to get the boat set up for transport between skiway and hut (which was a bit unsuccessful as the glacial melt pool is 1/2 frozen 1/2 solid at the moment, so we ended up taking the long route around the edge), and when the weather turned bad - reading, loosing a number of games of Scrabble and winning a glorious game of Monopoly!

We even had the 'luxury' of a toilet, named the Rocket Pocket as you have to fire it up weekly to burn the waste, not too pleasant but arguably has the best view from a loo!

Had a lovely time away but it's good to be back (if only for a shower). It's a strange time on base as people are starting to leave, the nights are starting to get dark(ish) and end of Summer is near.

Winter Olympics with HMSE

2007-01-17T18:37:00.000-08:00

We had a mini Winter Olympics at Vals today - Rothera vs various teams from HMS Edurance. Events included downhill board & ski, slalom, snowball launch, sledging, luge and snow sculpture.

Amber and I volunteered for the snow sculpture event and chose to make a mermaid. The well-deserved winners from HMSE created an ig 'loo'. There was a stunning entry of a snow woman by one of the Morrisons builders too.
The 'free style' sledging had some interesting entries including a kayak!

We spent the evening aboard HMSE where we had a chilly BBQ on back deck followed by entertainment by their band 'The Growlers' who rocked.

HRH, HMS Endurance & ITN

2007-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week on base with the arrival of the ITN news team, closely followed by HMS Endurance and HRH Princess Anne and Rear Admiral Laurence. HMSE moved a large iceberg out of the way before coming alongside the wharf, which made for some interesting photos.

ITN have been doing live broadcasts all week and I've been told by people back home that they've been quite interesting(http://www.itn.co.uk/news/index_8173d34e6cbfd5d33223284330797ad4.html). Although I can't say I'm as concerned as they appear to be about ice bergs melting in the Antarctic summer... I've managed to avoid being interviewed by them so far (sorry mom), but the Bonner lab and some of the dive team should get their moment of glory on Thursday.

HRH and Mr HRH visited the lab on Tuesday, they are both really down to earth people appeared to enjoy being shown around. A plaque for a time capsule we're burying near the new Bransfield building was unveiled in the afternoon following a short speech from BAS director Chris Rapley.

Apples!

2007-01-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

There were apples at breakfast this morning!!!!!!!!!! Fresh fruit and veg is quite sparse on base as we only get fresh food when the Dash 7 has been to collect people from Falklands or Punta, or a ship comes in, which isn't too often. I'll have to get used to the lack of fresh food as we have about 6months over our winter when no ships or planes will be able to visit. There's a lot of other food-related things to get used to such as 'Nido' - powdered milk (as it's obviously easier to transport than UHT milk and it's a little too cold for the cows), not checking date labels (as by the time things get here they're generally out of date anyway, I found some chocolate from 1992 in the boat kit the other day!), 'Man Food' which is the freeze-dried out of date lovelyness (Hmm) which you get to eat when you're out in the field and 'smokos'. We get 2 smokos a day (basically 'coffee breaks' but the chefs like to make various smoko treats ranging from bacon sandwiches to cakes and french pastries).

I've been trying various methods of exercise to counteract the smoko treats, including snowboarding, skiing, skinning (attaching 'skins' to your skis so you can go uphill), snow-shoeing, walking around the point and today I cycled around the runway on one of the base bikes, I managed to do 5 laps - roughly 10km. There's also a small indoor climing wall and a gym on base but the weather has been too nice for that so far.

Starting Work

2007-01-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'm in handover mode with Helen the current marine assistant. I feel very lucky because my job is quite varied and interesting..... scuba diving being the most exciting part of it. We're supplied with good dry suits and use full face masks so it's only really your hands which get a little bit cold towards the end of the dive. The water is around 0 degrees celsius at the moment.

Other tasks include going out on a boat to to CTDs and collect water samples. The CTD is an instrument which measures Conductivity (salinity / saltiness of water) Temperature and Depth, and is lowered by hand winch to the bottom of Ryder Bay and back (which is 500m deep!). Fortunately it is somewhat smaller than the one used on the JCR. CTDs are done roughly twice a week and the water samples are analysed back in the lab for chlorophyll and ammonia whilst some samples are also sent back to the UK for analysis.

This month Helen and I took a trip out to a local island 'Lagoon' where we installed some plastic settlement plates in the intertidal zone, I'll have to go back once or twice a year to photograph them and see if anything has grown on them. There is a small hut on the island were you can stay overnight if the weather gets bad or if you choose to get a night away from base. There are hoards of elephant seals there at the moment, they're massive, noisy and smelly but pose no threat.

Russian Helicopters

2007-01-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

Early in the month we were visited by two Russian Helicopters stopping to re-fuel on their way to the South Pole.

Christmas & New Year

2007-01-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Despite the snow and Christmas decorations it didn't feel especially Christmassy on base, but it was welcome relief not to be out battling with crowds for last minute presents and enduring carols being played everywhere you go from November. We had Christmas day and boxing day off work and were given a fantastic meal cooked by the 3 chefs on base. Cyril (this years wintering chef) gave the Queen's speech in usual Cyril style. A few of us spent the afternoon at Vals (the local slope we use for skiing) snowboarding and building snowmen. We witnessed the rare sight of our two "Twotters" (Twin Otter planes) landing on the skiway (snow runway) at Vals. This is only used if the Dash 7 is coming in to land as it can't land on snow so the others have to land up at Vals and wait for the Dash to come in before landing on the runway at Rothera themselves. It was an impressive sight.

New Year's Eve started with the now traditional 10km run around the runway. I ran as part of a team and Sue-Ann and I decided it'd be much more fun in fancy dress so I brought out the horse costume which mom had helped me make for a fancy dress party last year and which I brought with me as I knew it'd come in handy! As you can see from the photos we were unaware that the race had started for quite a while and it was rather warm / awkward running in costume, it took us 17minutes to trot a lap and a half (about 2.5km) - pretty poor effort but good fun.

New Years Eve was celebrated in the 'Sledge Store' (where all the field kit, tents, skis etc are stored). Music was provided by 'Flamenco Jamie, Rob & Tris' followed by newly formed 'Ratchet Death' (not sure where the name came from), I played the sax on a few songs.

All in all a top evening and couldn't think of a better way to welcome in 2007.

ROTHERA!

2007-01-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, after 2 months of training, 1 day of flying, 10 days in the Falklands, 10 days at sea (and 12 years of wondering what it'd be like to actually go there) I finally arrived at Rothera, my home for the next two and a half years!

The following week was mainly taken up with 'relief' i.e. unloading the cargo from JCR. We received initial field training giving us the 'basic' skills of crevasse rescue, use of ice axes and crampons and use of pyramid tents, primus stoves and tilly lamps. We got to spend the night out camping at 'Vals' (the local area used for boarding / skiing) and woke to stunning views over base and out to the mountains of the Antarctic peninsular. It's summer at the moment and currently 24hr daylight which is difficult to get used to as you don't really feel tired!

The views from base are stunning and constantly changing with the weather. We're surrounded by mountains, glaciers, huge ice cliffs, ice bergs, sea and numerous small islands. The base is pretty busy at this time with people flying in and out on a daily basis being ferried between Stanley / Rothera and field stations further along the peninsular on the Dash 7 and Twin Otters.

Nymayer Channel, Lamaire Channel & Vernadsky

2007-01-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

The final part of the journey to Rothera took us through the stunning Numayer and Lamaire Channels. These really were awesome beyond words so I'll just stick in some of my better photos instead!

We had the rare opportunity to go ashore at Vernadsky (the old BAS base 'Faraday' now run by the Ukranians) and get a tour around the base. One rather interesting instrument was the Dobson Spectrophotometer (see photo) which was used in the discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica and is still in use at Vernadsky today.

We boarded the JCR again, next stop Rothera....

Science on the JCR

2007-01-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

During the 10 days it took to get from the Falklands to Rothera I assisted on the 'Drake Passage Science Cruise'. This mainly invlolved helping with the 'CTDs' (an oceonagraphic instrument which measures Conductivity (used to assess the saltiness / salinity of the water), Temperature and Depth) in conjunction with automated sample bottles which enabled water samples to be taken at various depths (see photo below). The CTD and water bottles were lowered to depths of up to 4000m in the Drake Passage! Much fun was also had attaching polystryene cups to the CTD frame and sending them down to the depths of the ocean where the immense pressure squeezes all the air out of them!

We celebrated Anne's (one of the Artists who get to come to Antarctica to be inspired - how cool is that?!) birthday in style with a cocktail party on the Monkey Island (the strange name for an outdoor platform near the top of the ship - I'm sure someone out there can enlighten me as to why it's called this). Matt, Jim and Jamie made excellent waiters, randomly named the 'serviettes' for the night. There was a great turnout despite the temperature.

November

2007-01-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

My journey South started at RAF Brize Norton from where we flew to the Falklands via Ascension Island. We remained in the Falklands for 10 days prior to boarding the James Clark Ross (JCR) for the final leg of the journey.

Taking advantage of the free time we had in the Falklands a few of us took a trip out to Volunteer point to see the King, Gentoo & Magallenic penguins. It was quite bizzare seeing penguins on grassy banks and the beach.

A 2-day trip out to Sea Lion Island (via a tiny 6-seater Inter Islanader plane) proved highly rewarding, with Orca (Killer Whales) appearing in the bay within half an hour of our arrival. It was spectacular to watch them cruising in and out of the small bay checking out the Elephant seals. The local wildlife was abundant and unafraid - elephant seals, gentoo & rockhopper penguins, king cormorants, sealions, petrels.

The JCR arrived in Stanley on 5th December and we departed on 7th, bound for Rothera.

In the beginning....

2007-01-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

Well I thought it was about time I joined the hoards of bloggers if only to keep my friends and family updated on my exploits down south.

I joined BAS (British Antarctic Survey) in September as the new Marine Biology Assistant for Rothera Research Station, where I will be based for the next two and a half years. My training started in the UK where I attended a number of courses including first aid, commercial diver training, a chainsaw course (for cutting dive holes through the ice of course!) and boat handling.

I shall endeavour to catch up as best I can (what with it now being January!)